Jacopo Zanguidi, known as “Il Bertoja" (Parma, 1544 - 1574)
Rape of the Sabine Women, 1570 ca.
oil on canvas; inv. P 8
provenance: Bequest of Agostino Sieri Pepoli, 1910 (formerly part of
the Malvezzi Bonfioli collection)
There has been much debate over the authorship of this painting.
Attribution has oscillated a number of times between Bertoja and his
close collaborator, the Bolognese Girolamo Mirola.
Issues of style and chronology make it seem more likely that it was
Bertoja who executed the work and that he did so during his later
period, around 1570, after having finished the frescoes for Palazzo del
Giardino in Parma and before beginning his last works in Rome.
The scene is packed with a multitude of characters arranged on
different levels in a space that has been theatrically deformed. The
women, seized by the soldiers, struggle elegantly. Ancient buildings
and ruins dot the background, while horses and horsemen throng in the
foreground.
Added to the exaggerated mannerism of the work are courtly elements
from the Emilian tradition (derived from the work of Parmigianino) and
the expressive force of the Roman narrative cycles.
